AJ’s Famous Seafood and Po-Boys, Marietta GA (take two)

Last week – yeah, I know that some of you readers are kind of used to me saying “two months ago,” but this really was last week – I met up with two of my blogger friends, Malika from Atlanta Restaurant Blog and Lia from The Cardigan Kitchen, for lunch at a really good and mostly hidden place in Marietta.

I first wrote about AJ’s almost six years ago, and while I did stop by a couple of times after that, I never became a regular. How silly of me. They serve what is certainly one of the very best po-boys in town. They also have a really neat dish called gator grits, where they ladle some gator chili over cheese grits. That probably shouldn’t work as well as it does.

We were all really pleased with the po-boys in part because the bread was really nice and soft and totally unlike the traditional French bread of a po-boy. You’ll pardon our heretical view on this matter, but we all agreed how nice it was to not have to deal with flaky bread crumbs everywhere with each bite. I just think French bread is often simply too dry. But here’s the unusual thing: AJ’s used to serve the more traditional bread. Check out the earliest link in the list of other blog posts below; the Hungry Southerner posted a really good photo of that kind of bread. I’m glad that they have changed breads, and I loved the lime dill tartar sauce with my catfish.

We talked shop, as bloggers do, and I forgot which PR person in town was which, as I do, and Malika told us about a great food blogger conference in Utah that she had attended. Lia ordered a slice of key lime pie and used her Native Floridian Superpowers (TM) to declare it one of the best key lime pies around, which is great, because they’re actually Kenny’s pies, made just down the road in Smyrna.

I like AJ’s a good deal more than a couple of restaurants around town that make a big to-do about being a cajun place. It’s a nice, humble joint that serves some New Orleans-inspired seafood to an appreciative crowd of regulars. It’s kind of small, so evenings and the noon hour can be a little crazy, but it’s certainly worth a visit.